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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26580517">Born Again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyNotStraight/pseuds/DefinitelyNotStraight'>DefinitelyNotStraight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mechanisms (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Backstory, Character Death, F/F, Gen, Inspired by Anastasia (1997 &amp; Broadway), Period-Typical Homophobia, Protective Siblings, Songfic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:08:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,403</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26580517</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyNotStraight/pseuds/DefinitelyNotStraight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Anastasia Romanov - the girl who lost everything in the dark of the woods. </p><p>Nastya Rasputina - the girl who woke up with metal in her veins and got everything back. </p><p>Idk, I suck at summaries.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dr Carmilla &amp; Nastya Rasputina, Jonny d'Ville &amp; Nastya Rasputina, Nastya Rasputina &amp; Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Born Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Just angst, honestly.<br/>Some mild rapey themes but it doesnt go anywhere because he gets his ass handed to him.<br/>Just angst, fluff at the end.<br/>I spent 3 days writing this, because my brain wouldn't let go of the idea that I could write Nastya as a Russian princess.<br/>Enjoy? I haven't grammar checked it.<br/>Shout out to the person in the GC who is a bad influence and convinced me to write this shitshow 😂</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dancing bears,<br/>
Painted wings,<br/>
Things I almost remember,<br/>
And a song someone sings,<br/>
Once upon a December.<br/>
Someone holds me safe and warm,<br/>
Horses prance through a silver storm,<br/>
Figures dancing gracefully across my memory</p><p>Someone holds me safe and warm,<br/>
Horses prance through a silver storm,<br/>
Figures dancing gracefully across my memory.</p><p>Far away,<br/>
Long ago,<br/>
Glowing dim as an ember,<br/>
Things my heart used to know,<br/>
Things it yearns to remember<br/>
And a song someone sings</p><p>Once upon a December<br/>
--------------<br/>
"Wake up, wake up Ana!"<br/>
She groans and turns over, burrowing her face into pillows and tries to fall back asleep. She had been having a rather pleasant dream and honestly, even a nightmare would be preferable to forcing her warm body out into the cold air of her bedroom.<br/>
The covers are torn off her, and she curls instinctively as if it would help protect her from the sudden onset of cold.<br/>
She glares up at the blonde serving girl she sometimes despises to call her friend, who is giggling and then dives into the bed and prods at Anastasia until she swears colourfully and gets out of bed.<br/>
"I despise you, Alyosha." She tells the girl mildly, and the younger girl rolls her eyes and sets about preparing her bath.<br/>
"Yes, of course you do, Duchess. Do you want a blue dress, or a white one?" The girl asks, rummaging in her wardrobe and dismissing countless priceless gowns as she finally finds a few she likes.<br/>
Alyosha might be a demon in the mornings when waking her, but she always manages to make Anastasia feel comfortable in the God-awful royal gowns she is expected to wear.<br/>
She's seventeen now, and her mother has finally had enough and put her foot down about Anastasia's habit of wearing pants rather than gowns.<br/>
"Blue one, please. White is for weddings." She says, and the serving girl rolls her eyes to the heavens.<br/>
"You are so old fashioned. You can wear white before your wedding, you are aware of this?" Alyosha scolds her lightly, as she answers the door for the servants bringing herbs and flowers to decorate her bath.<br/>
Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov was famously known for adoring flora and floral scents in her baths, and her family encouraged it. They were wealthy enough, and frankly, they approved of anything feminine that Anastasia liked.<br/>
She was the youngest girl, and the youngest healthy child of them all, often spoilt rotten and allowed to get away with so much before consequences occurred. She would have been allowed to continue her boyish ways, had it not been for the unrest in the land.<br/>
The opposition to her family snagged onto Anastasia's ways and used it to imply that they were unable to raise the princesses and princes in the ways of propriety, so how could the children be allowed to rule the country one day?<br/>
And thus, Ana had to suffer through gowns that hurt her chest and had to hide her interest in mechanics.<br/>
God, did she love mechanics and machines. They were simple where humans were complex, and she understood them better.<br/>
Human beings were flawed, glitches in the system, and she didn't like how their emotions changed things for them. Machines only had emotions when she programmed them too, and while that was lonely, it made more sense to her. </p><p>She sank into her bath after she stripped away her sleep gown, sighing as the hot water eased away the chill of the morning and the flowers brushed against her limbs like tiny pieces of velvet. She allowed Alyosha to manipulate her body how she needed in order to soap up all her hair, wash it out and rub in the oils that made it soft and easier to tame.<br/>
Once she dried off, mourning the loss of the warm water and her privacy, she sat on her now-made bed and allowed Alyosha to braid her hair out of her face and into some form of neatness before she had to attend breakfast.<br/>
Braid done, and in the dress that she had to give to Alyosha didn't look awful, she bid her friend farewell and rushed to the dining hall, where she was greeted by her mother and siblings.<br/>
Breakfast was a simple affair; discussions of their days, gentle inquiries about Alexei's health that day, inquiries that were met with tense silence about the whereabouts of their father that their mother ignored.<br/>
Father used to join these meetings, Ana remembers that. She does, her father would talk to her about mechanics and discuss tactics of war with her and he would encourage her wildness. He used to sneak Ana and Alexei candies when Mother told them no, and he used to surprise them after long trips away with extravagant gifts from where he had visited.<br/>
Now? He was always in court, arguing with the nobles and the rebels and everyone else.<br/>
He was never there, and oh, how Anastasia missed him.<br/>
Another joined the table, and Ana narrowed her eyes at him. Rasputin.<br/>
She hated the man and how close he was to her mother, and how the rumours fluttered about the castle when they thought the princess couldn't hear about how they suspected he was seducing her mother.<br/>
But, no matter how she despised this man who claimed to be holy, he was there for Alexei. He was healing him from his illness, and it was working. She would thank him on her knees for that, no matter the depth of his betrayal if he was indeed shagging her mother, or the depth of her disdain for him, because too many of her memories were watching her younger brother bleed uncontrollably onto white sheets and blue carpeting. </p><p>After breakfast was her tutoring, her favourite time of day.<br/>
Anastasia adored to learn, her brain was like a sponge and it soaked everything up as quickly as it could, and her tutor Yenin was quick and able to keep up with her unpredictable brain. Plus! He allowed Alyosha to join the lessons too!<br/>
That wasn't allowed, it was basically treason as Alyosha was just a servant and his attention should solely be on Ana, but he liked their dynamic and how the friends bounced ideas off each other. He also liked how Anastasia had a friend, which she hadn't had before Alyosha started working at the southern castle.<br/>
Alyosha was bouncing outside the tutors office, a tray of tea and snacks in her arms as half pretense to give her a reason to be there, and half because she knew Ana never ate enough at breakfast, too distracted with talking to her family and worrying over Alexei and her father.<br/>
Ana pressed her hand into the scanner, and the AI that ran the castle announced her entrance with a pleasant greeting, allowing the girls entrance into their extravagant teacher's office.<br/>
The room was filled with trinkets, diagrams and prototypes lined the walls and hung from the rafters, and the man himself was tinkering at his desk, singing an old lullaby as he did. </p><p>"Tili-tili-bom,<br/>
Zakroy glaza skoree,<br/>
Kto-to hodit za oknom,<br/>
I stuchitsya v dveri.</p><p>Tili-tili-bom,<br/>
Krichit nochnaya ptitsa,<br/>
On uzhe probralsya v dom,<br/>
K tem komu ne spitsya.</p><p>On idet... on uzhe blizko...</p><p>Tili-tili-bom,<br/>
Ty slyshish', kto-to ryadom?<br/>
Pritailsya za uglom,<br/>
I pronzaet vzglyadom.</p><p>Tili-tili-bom,<br/>
Vse skroet noch' nemaya,<br/>
Za toboy..."</p><p>Anastasia remembered that lullaby, vaguely, one of her nannies would sing it to her as a child. It was terrifying, and it soothed her even as it scared her.<br/>
"Yenin!" Alyosha greeted enthusiastically, and Ana smiled as the man jumped up and started yammering about their topic of the day, and the girls diligently listened and took notes and asked questions.<br/>
Hours passed and they learnt about grammar rules and programming, and Yenin promised he would help them programme an AI next week.<br/>
Something smashed down the hall, and their head bodyguard came crashing in, along with Ana's mother and Rasputin.<br/>
"My lady, we need you." They tell her as she shoves the smaller form of Alyosha behind her in fear of the girl being punished.<br/>
She is pulled into the tactical room, and Anastasia realises that she is an adult now, apparently. Her father always said that she wouldnt be allowed in there until she was an adult.<br/>
She was right, from that day, she was an adult. She wished to change it, as her becoming an adult lead to Alyosha being an adult too, in the eyes of the officials, and the fifteen year old didn't deserve to be subjected to adulthood yet.<br/>
But when did anyone in Cyberia get what they deserved, from that day on?<br/>
They told her how her father has gone mad. How he is taunting the rebels and dragging the country through yet another war when they barely survived the one with New Japan a few years earlier. How he refuses to listen to sense and how the rebels are going to march on the castle and harm her father.<br/>
"He isn't listening to us!" Tatiana wailed, her hand clutched in Maria's, and the gaze of the room fell heavy on Anastasia.<br/>
"You're the favourite, Ana. You and Alexei. He might listen to you, and you might be able to stop this before the country goes to war again and Cyberia falls." Her mother tells her, and Rasputin has a hand on her shoulder.<br/>
Fury surges in the young princess and she spits at them.<br/>
"I will not betray my father." She tells them, because that is what they are asking of her. Because she is not as stupid as they seem to believe and history is her best subject and even if she can talk her father down, he will be forced to abdicate, and Alexei being the next true heir will be unable to see their father again.<br/>
She storms out of the room, shoving away the arms that grab for her and the pleas and shouts falling on dead ears.<br/>
She runs, tears streaming down pale cheeks and her hands tearing out braids that suddenly feel too tight against her scalp.<br/>
She won't. She will not betray the only person who ever encouraged her doing what she loved. She refused to allow them to take her father away from herself and Alexei.<br/>
Alexei had lost so much already, he will not lose their father thanks for anything Anastasia did.<br/>
She finds herself in the control room, the gentle thrumming of machines soothing the ache in her chest as she leaned against one and let the mechanical vibrations echo through her body.<br/>
Deep breath in, hold, exhale. Deep breathe in, hold, exhale.<br/>
Over and over again until the hot tears stop and all she feels is the heat of the machine at her back. Until her hands are no longer tearing holes in the silk and Cairan cotton of her dress.<br/>
"I thought I'd find you here..."<br/>
Alyosha was in the doorway, and Ana turned away from her friend, burying her head into her knees.<br/>
Of course they sent her friend after her, to manipulate her into obedience.<br/>
That is what being royalty is, she thinks. Manipulating and being manipulated until you bear children and die.<br/>
She doesn't want it, but if her father dies or abdicates, she will have no choice. The stress of the throne will kill Alexei faster than the illness is.<br/>
That thought made her sob again.<br/>
"Oh, Duchess. Don't cry so. Shhh, here." Alyosha kneels before her and wipes at her face with a soft cloth, before engulfing the weeping princess in her arms.<br/>
Anastasia tries not to give in, but she so rarely gets hugs like this, and she burrows herself into her friend's chest and clings as hard as she can. They rock back and forth for so much longer than was allowed, surrounded by humming machines and Anastasia had never felt safer in her life than she did now in her only friend's arms.<br/>
"I don't want to betray my papa, Yosha." She whimpered, and the servant girl made a sound of sympathy in her throat.<br/>
"They sent me to convince you. Said you would listen to me." Alyosha told her, not willing to lie to the princess, even if the price for her failure would be severe.<br/>
"I know. I don't want to lose my father. They will force him to abdicate, and Alexei will not be able to survive the stress of the throne. Tatiana is to be married to the prince of New Ireland and Maria is often as sick as often as Alexei is. Mama will not be allowed due to her German blood, and I will be the only one left." Ana sobs, and Alyosha shushes her gently.<br/>
"If you do not make him see sense, the rebellion will kill him. Is it not better to know your father is alive and be unable to see him, rather than attend his funeral?" Alyosha told her bluntly, and did not voice the thought that occurred to them both that the rebellion might not stop with the death of Nikolai. That maybe they would want all of them.<br/>
A whitehot bolt of terror shot through Ana, and she made up her mind.<br/>
Her love for her father did not prioritize over the survival of her whole family.<br/>
"I'll do it." Ana gave in, pulling back from Alyosha finally, and the girl sighed in relief and laughed.<br/>
"I'm glad. I would have been shot if you'd not agreed." She giggled, an awkward thing that was more a release of tension than a genuine laugh.<br/>
Ana squeezed Alyosha's hands. She would never allow that to happen.<br/>
-----------------<br/>
It was a long journey to the Northern palace, where her father had barricaded himself with his terrified advisors. Even with the best ship her family had, it would take over a day to reach the palace, and Ana was bored out of her mind.<br/>
Nerves didn't help the matter, and she was irritable, especially since her foolish mother had insisted that her perfect Rasputin accompany her.<br/>
To protect her.<br/>
God, she wanted to vomit.<br/>
Alyosha was trying to occupy her, as was Yenin, who was part of the rebellion. She did not know that before, but surely he wouldn't harm her or her family.<br/>
"When we get back home, we can make that AI you so desperately wanted, hm? How about you go and plan with your servant the details you want to add to its systems?" Yenin told her, and she smiled.<br/>
That occupied her alot, and she spent hours scribbling ideas with her friend, planning out their AI and its duties.<br/>
They decided they wanted personality over actual function, and that they would name it Vrai.<br/>
Eventually, they fell asleep curled around each other, and missed the knowing looks that Rasputin cast at them as he tucked a quilt around them both. </p><p>They reached her father's palace and Ana was marched through rebel crowds that hissed and spat when saying her name, and she tried to block out the things they shouted about her father. Alyosha was by her side, truly the only reason she didn't run away or lash out whenever they got too close to her face, and the adults tried to keep the more passionate protesters from her as she entered the gates.<br/>
Her father's officials were waiting, and Ana saw them gaunt and thinner-looking than she remembered. This is what fear does to a person, and she hopes desperately that it was fear of the crowd outside rather than of her father.<br/>
"He's through there..." the man leading them through the palace told her and she tried not to choke when she realised she no longer recognised this place.<br/>
They spent every summer here since she was born, and her memories were of skipping through these halls with her sisters and playing tag with Alexei when he was well enough.<br/>
They passed the chambers that her mother and father used, and Ana remembered that on her birthdays when she was little, they would allow her to sleep cuddled up with them, and they would sing her a lullaby together.<br/>
It all feels empty and eerie and cavernous now, and Ana moves a little closer to Rasputin. He's the only one of them armed while the others hold back the rebels, and she is afraid.<br/>
Oh god, she can hear yelling down this hallway and she is absolutely shaking because she is only now realising that she had never heard her father raise his voice before. Ever, not even when she was a kid and the war was still happening.<br/>
Alyosha squeezes her hand, and Ana makes to let go, but the younger girl clings tight, and refuses to let go. So they enter together, their hands clasped, and Ana is so afraid of what is going to happen.<br/>
Now, with her father. And later, when they get home and Rasputin tells of her closeness to Alyosha to her mother.<br/>
She won't be able to save her from that. But she has more imminent things at hand, as her father comes into view and she wants to yell.<br/>
He is disheveled, his face is shadowed and dirty and he clearly hasn't slept in a while.<br/>
"Papa." She says, and he turns and shuts up and then starts crying. And Anastasia knows what to do even less with tears than she did with his yelling.<br/>
He lifts her into his arms and holds her tight and she buries herself into his arms and ignores how bad he smells because under the sweat and the cigarette smoke, he still smells like sandalwood and honey.<br/>
"Ana, oh my Anastasia. You are here." His words are slurred and Ana can't tell if it's from sleep deprivation or alcohol and she likes neither option.<br/>
"I'm here, papa, I'm here. Papa, you can't get us in another war." She says tentatively, and she is flung to the floor. Her father is enraged, and he is shouting while Alyosha rushes to her side as she stares.<br/>
Her father just threw her to the floor. Her back is bruising against marble and she feels none of it because her brain is screaming at her more than her body is.<br/>
"They've got you too. They're all conspiring against me! My own daughter, a rebel." He is certifiably mad, and Ana is staring in abject horror as she watches him rant and rage and destroy priceless objects.<br/>
"Papa, the country can't last again! We barely survived the one with New Japan! Please, papa, come home with me." She begs, and Alyosha is trying to tell her to shut up because Nikolai whirled at them, his eyes wild and wet.<br/>
"What would you know of the war? You were a spoilt princess who didn't know better. A freak too, always acting like a boy. I'm starting to believe that your mother had an affair because I could never have spawned two children as weak as you and the boy." He spat, and Ana thinks she understands now how it feels to be shot. Because her chest hurts so badly, worse than the time she got pneumonia, worse than any corset.<br/>
Alyosha tugs her up by the arm, and they move towards the door as Nikolai starts throwing things and a shard of sharp, shattered pottery from an ancient vase slices Ana's arm.<br/>
"We have to go." Alyosha pulls her from the room, hissing when something hits her leg, and they are rushed away by Rasputin and Yenin.<br/>
"We have to go. His guards are coming, and the rebels outside cannot be held off forever." Rasputin tells her, and Ana screams when he lifts her up and carries her when she doesn't move.<br/>
"No, no! They'll kill my papa. Let me go!" She's screaming and thrashing and her nails have undoubtedly made his back bleed as she claws at him, as she tries to hurt me.<br/>
"Princess, if we are here when the rebels break through the gate, they will kill us all." Alyosha tells her, and she is limping and leaning heavily on Yenin.<br/>
It is the trail of blood she sees from Alyosha's leg that convinces her to go docile, and she just sobs as she let's the man she despises carry her to the side exit, towards the cyberwoods where they can sneak behind the rebels and back onto the road to the southern castle.<br/>
"Can I trust you to not run, if I put you down?" Rasputin asks, and she nods. She is set down and immediately she rushes to Alyosha, and the girl is not in good shape. Her leg is bleeding too heavily, whatever hit her had sliced her thigh.<br/>
"Rasputin!" Ana cries, he's a doctor, isn't he? He helps with Alexei, he can help Alyosha.<br/>
"I don't feel too good, Duchess." Alyosha says, and it's sort of slurred. Ana lowers her to the ground with Yenin and she clutches at her hands.<br/>
"Don't talk. Rasputin will help." She tells the girl, and she feels something begin to wilt in her chest as she presses her hands hard against the wound, trying to stem the flow like the books always said you should.<br/>
The man came over and inspected the wound, and he looked worried. God, Ana didn't like that at all. He took off his shirt and wrapped it like a bandage around the wound, and told Ana to stay there with her and Yenin while he went and looked for some herb, he said it would stop the bleeding and infection.<br/>
"Hey, princess. I love you." Alyosha said softly, as Rasputin left.<br/>
Ana felt something click into place. So that's what this is? What her emotions towards her friend were?<br/>
Anastasia cast a look to Yenin, knowing that if this got back to her mother, Alyosha would be put to death and she would be locked into a convent for the rest of her days.<br/>
Yenin gave her a knowing smile, kind and full of promises.<br/>
"I...I love you too, Alyosha." She says, and the girl looks so hopeful and smiles like an angel.<br/>
"Can we...can we run away? Together? Once we get back we can go and be free." Alyosha pleads softly, and Ana puts her forehead to hers.<br/>
That's all she wants. To be free and have Alyosha. She realises it's all she's ever wanted.<br/>
A chime vaguely registers in her head, from Yenin's message padd, but she doesn't care as she moves to finally kiss the girl she loves.<br/>
She is shoved away. She hits a tree, and her back hurts from being thrown for the second day.<br/>
She sees Yenin with a gun in his hand, and she can't even get out a scream before a bullet is lodged into Alyosha's chest right before her eyes. She screams, loud and shrill and ear splitting, and then she bites on her tongue to stop it when the barrel of the gun is pressed into her throat.<br/>
What is happening? Why is her teacher, her one trusted confident, doing this?<br/>
"The rebels have been able to use my information that I passed along to get into the castle. Your mother was drowned in the lake, Alexei was stabbed. Non fatally, but they enjoyed watching him bleed out without your mother's precious Rasputin to save him. Apparently he screamed and cried for you as he died. Your sisters were shot. Good riddance to them all. And now all that is left is you, my dear Anastasia." He purrs it in her ear, and tears fall down her cheeks as her eyes never ever leave Alyosha laying dead on the ground.<br/>
Mama.<br/>
Tatiana.<br/>
Maria.<br/>
Alexei.<br/>
All dead. Tortured and dead.<br/>
Alexei screamed for her as he died. He cried out for his sister and she was not there.<br/>
The rebels will have killed her father by now too.<br/>
"A-are you going to kill me too?" She sobbed, and the man crowded closer and licked a line down her neck that made her skin crawl like it had a million ants underneath it.<br/>
"Not if you come to the rebellion with me. Be my beautiful bride, bear my children." He whispers, and bile rises in her throat.<br/>
She doesn't want to die, she doesn't want to go cold like her family and Alyosha is.<br/>
"Yes. I have no other choice" She says, and the insane bastard lowers the gun to pull her into a kiss.<br/>
She slams her head forward into his nose.<br/>
"Fuck you, you're fucking creep." She spits at him, and he levels the gun at her chest.<br/>
"You're going to regret that in death." He said, his voice thick by the blood running down his face. She feels proud when she sees how damaged his nose is.<br/>
If she is going to die, she will do it violently.<br/>
She will not go quietly into this goodnight.<br/>
"Fuck. You." She tells him, and he moves the gun to shoot her in the stomach.<br/>
"Your death will be slow, and painful." He tells her as he eases her to the floor, her blood coating his clothes.<br/>
God, is he right. It feels like her stomach is on fire and it is spreading and the fire is somehow unbearably hot and freezing cold.<br/>
She is dying, she can feel sticky blood soaking the grass she is laid on and her vision is going fuzzy.<br/>
Alyosha.<br/>
She reaches for her hand, wanting to be connected to her in death as they should have been able to be in life.<br/>
Yenin stamps on her hand and it breaks.<br/>
"Freaks like you two don't deserve comfort as you die." He says, then another shot fires, and Yenin falls.<br/>
Right between his eyes, blood and brain matter leaking across grass and onto her arms.<br/>
Who?<br/>
Rasputin.<br/>
He kneels by her side and she sobs in agony. It burns, it burns.<br/>
"I can't fix this, princess." He is crying, and she is too, and she reaches her aching, broken hand to Alyosha.<br/>
"I don't wanna die if it hurts this much." She begs him, begs him not to let her die and he is crying freely.<br/>
How did she ever hate this man? He moves Alyosha to lay beside her, and help Ana move to rest her head on her love's chest, screaming out at the pain the movement causes her.<br/>
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Anastasia." Rasputin tells her and he strokes through her hair as she gets weaker.<br/>
"Mama is gone. So is Alexei and sisters. I'm all alone." She mumbles deliriously.<br/>
"I'm here. I'm not leaving." He promises, and he clutches her hand tight as she tries to hold onto him but her arms no longer feel like they are part of her.<br/>
He is sobbing too, grieving for mama, and for Alexei.<br/>
"I'm sleepy. Will you stay until I fall asleep?" She isn't in pain anymore, and she doesn't remember why the adrenaline part of her brain is screaming at her that that is really bad.<br/>
"Of course." He chokes out, and Anastasia is fading away.<br/>
She wonders if she will see her family again.<br/>
The darkness she falls into is warm, like sleep.<br/>
-----------------<br/>
Doctor Carmilla watches Anastasia's last hour from the safety of the Aurora, where the ship had taken her and insisted she watched.<br/>
The girl had some metal to her, to tell the man what she had said with a gun to her. To not take the offer that would have saved her life.<br/>
She didn't need a new experiment subject, she had Jonny at the moment and the problems in his mechanism already. But she wanted this one.<br/>
She beamed down to Cyberia, and she watched as a sobbing man she knew to be Rasputin closed the princess' eyes for her.<br/>
"I can bring her back." She said, bluntly. The man looked at her with narrowed eyes, but with some recognition. Her reputation preceded her.<br/>
"It won't hurt her, will it?" He asked softly, and Doctor Carmilla, being the liar she is, shook her head.<br/>
The man agreed, and they lifted Anastasia's bloody body into Carmilla's arms.<br/>
She beamed away again, and took the dead girl to her lab, where her current puzzle was.<br/>
His heart was fine when he was comatose, but when he woke up and opened his eyes, he flat lined again. It was driving Carmilla insane.<br/>
"Now, what shall we do with you, my girl with all the metal in the world?" She addresses Anastasia as she carefully cuts away damaged clothing and wiping away blood and dirt and tears. She fixed wounds and frowned.<br/>
She didn't know yet, so she turned to see if she could fix Jonny until she was hit by inspiration.<br/>
No luck there either.<br/>
Until then she had an idea.<br/>
Mercury. Mercury blood. Her girl of metal with quicksilver blood.<br/>
She began to work, and over the next few days she alternated between her children (as she called them), seeing if she could make them work.<br/>
Jonny kept flat lining, and then when it was time to wake Anastasia, once her heart started beating her new blood successfully, the same dman thing happened with her.<br/>
Until something strange happened.<br/>
She had to move the platform she had Anastasia on, some circuitry on the Aurora was going haywire. She had fixed it and thought nothing of continuing to attempt to make Jonny work without moving Anastasia back into place.<br/>
His eyes opened, and they stayed open. He was awake! And he wasn't flatlining! Carmilla could dance, she was so happy.<br/>
He yelled and cried and tore at his chest, which was probably a normal reaction considering, but she calmed him and asked him some questions.<br/>
"Who is she?" He asked her, but she didn't reply, simply injected him with a sedative and put him under again.<br/>
She moved, to try and fix her newer puzzle, and she felt understanding inside her when Anastasia did the same thing, waking up successfully this time. She cried, saying she felt too heavy. She begged for Alyosha and her mother, and Carmilla put her under again when she noticed Jonny's heart monitor begin to pick up in speed too, as if he was reacting to Anastasia's panic.<br/>
What in the world?<br/>
She consulted Aurora's files and found nothing, and then she shrugged. As long as they were working now.<br/>
She moved Anastasia back to where she was originally, and they both failed again.<br/>
She woke them together, in view of each other, and it was her most successful experiment yet.<br/>
Somehow, their subconscious minds had made a connection similar to that of the Ardillian twin phenomena while they were unconscious and had latched onto each other. Somewhat symbiotic.<br/>
They needed each other to survive.<br/>
Carmilla beamed. This was going to be her best experiment yet, once she found out how to stabilise them to not need to be in sight of each other to live.<br/>
--------------<br/>
"What's your name?" Jonny asked his fellow experiment, which his mind called sister but he wasn't ready to say that out loud as he traced over the scars over where his metal heart lay.<br/>
She paused, and he didn't think she remembered. Then she took a pen and paper and started to write down in what he realised was cyrillic writing.<br/>
"Nastya." She told him, and he nodded.<br/>
It was years later when she told him the true, and when he asks what Nastya means, she lays her head on his shoulder and whispered the answer to him like a secret.<br/>
"Rebirth."<br/>
------------------<br/>
"So, what is it with you two? You dating? Fucking? Just weirdly close friends?" Ashes asks them, millennia later. Nastya nestles deeper into the hug Jonny has her in.<br/>
"She's my sister." He tells the crew, and she smiles. The ache of losing her real family hurt, but Jonny was always there to pick up the pieces of her when she fell apart.<br/>
He reminded her that she was reborn, and sometimes that was all she needed. Her name was a victory, her surname was a tribute to the man who held her while she died.<br/>
Plus, she grinned nastily, Jonny had helped her slaughter the rebellion that had killed her family.<br/>
The best brother she could ask for, really.</p>
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